


And They All Lived

by yuletide_archivist



Category: 10th Kingdom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 08:38:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1641917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time passes for Virginia and Wolf, lessons are learned, and through it all they stay together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And They All Lived

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Dana

 

 

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl.

She lived with her mommy and daddy in the biggest city--she couldn't imagine a bigger one--in the whole world.

And they were happy.

***

New York takes some getting used to.

On both their parts, really--Wolf because it is so new, so big, so alien and other, and Virginia because she now is seeing it all through Wolf's eyes. The first year there they spend--after the uprising of the air sprites that took them back to the Nine Kingdoms almost as soon as they'd left--getting Wolf acquainted with everything, exploring the city, finding him a job as a cook, and taking trips to the OB/GYN as they prepare for the baby.

Virginia is grateful the ultrasound doesn't show a tail, she thinks, as she stares at the screen and the cool jelly makes the skin of her stomach twitch. When she looks over to see Wolf's face, surprised he's being so quiet, especially now, she sees the tears and the expression of utter joy on his face. It makes her reach for his hand, and when he takes it his grip is firm and strong.

It makes up for any night she has to lock him in the guest bedroom.

Or pay ridiculous take-out bills.

***

The mommy left, a trail of bubbles and water and choked cries behind her. The little girl and her father were alone, and she cried for her mother night after night.

Her mother never answered. Her father came most nights, but some nights her tears were too quiet for him to hear.

The little girl cried into her pillow until she fell asleep. She dreams of mermaids and ever afters, sea witches and mirrors.

***

The first child is a girl.

Virginia thinks on naming her Christine, on how her mother held her as a child, of singing songs and--

And names have power. All the old stories, all the fairy tales, teach you that, and the way Wolf squirms and huffs and tries to bite his tongue to keep from objecting--

He's right to object. And she knows it.

They name her Lisa instead.

It's a plain sort of name, made for girls who wear brown oxfords instead of glass slippers, pony tail holders instead of crowns. Part of Virginia wonders if she's being silly, and she looks at Wolf holding their daughter, almost ready to ask.

He looks up, smiles at her, and Virginia relaxes a little into the bed, thinks that she _likes_ the name Lisa. And that's all that matters.

Or mostly, anyway.

***

The little girl grew up, as little girls do.

Her chest was flatter than she wanted it to be, her face like a pixie more than a princess, hair tangling in knots every night no matter what she did. Brushing in the morning wasn't for shine, nor 100 careful and even strokes; it was frantic, hoping to get it smooth enough that it will pull back neatly. Hoping to look decent enough that maybe Michael in second period would notice her.

She still dreamt of her mother from long ago, and she told herself she didn't care.

She dated, and she went to class, and she never admitted to anyone, not even her father, that she had no plans to be a mother at all.

After all, her own mother wasn't very good.

And the little girl who had grown into a young woman knew the saying _like mother like daughter_.

***

The wedding they have later than the baby. Between emergencies in the Kingdoms and adventures and the course of pregnancy and dealing with a newborn it just was forgotten about for a bit.

Lisa's their flower girl, face round and hair dark and mouth beaming as she carefully toddles up towards King Wendell, excited to marry his friends (or anyone at all). She's two and a half, and adorable, and has as big an appetite as her father. The last fact made Virginia curse more than once while breastfeeding her daughter.

Virginia's hair has grown out, brushing her shoulders as she holds her father's arm and walks up after her daughter, eyes nervously watching the girl before focusing on her soon-to-be husband. Wolf scoops Lisa up in his arms and grins at Virginia, and the sight makes the nerves leave her stomach.

Lisa babbles and interrupts half the ceremony, and Tony drops the ring, and Lisa throws a fistful of flower petals at Virginia's face.

It's absolutely wonderful.

Virginia doesn't think of her mother at all. Not until that evening, anyway, when Lisa's telling her about when _she_ gets married. It's a sudden rush of memory, intense as if it were happening all over again, as she remembers talking to her own mother about the same thing. Her own mother telling her about her wedding to Tony, about how they danced and laughed with their friends and family.

Virginia bites her lip for a moment before kissing her daughter's cheek and sending her to bed.

***

The mother was a queen, the mother was a witch.

The daughter was a heroine, the daughter was a waitress.

The father ached, the father tried.

They all had parts to play. The story was laid out before them, fitting in neatly with dozens of others, one more fairy tale.

The daughter ached and struggled and killed the queen, the witch, the mommy. And it hurt.

But the daughter had someone to turn to.

The wolf doesn't always eat the little girl. Sometimes he kisses her instead, holds her at night when she lets herself cry for the first time, rubs her stomach with his hand and whispers about the child beneath it.

Sometimes you need the wolf more than anything else.

***

Time passes. Lisa gains a sister and a brother, and Wolf's black hair is shot with grey, even in his tail. Virginia sings to her children, and tells them stories, and sometimes they're even about the grandmother they'll never meet--Christine, not the witch or the queen. Christine who hurt herself.

Time passes, and Virginia's hair is a mix of white and grey and brown as she looks in the mirror, comes her hair slowly and sees Wolf over her shoulder.

His arms wrap around her from behind, mouth pressed to her neck after a minute, and Virginia smiles a little. Thinks on her mother, and thinks that she is, a little, like her. She wonders, even now, if the problem for Christine was that when she looked in the mirror she couldn't see anyone to help her looking back.

Virginia's eyes rest on her husband, and then they close as she smiles softly, brush put on the dressing table and face turning away from the mirror to meet her husband's mouth for a kiss.

***

And they all lived happily ever after.

 


End file.
